Purchasing is a division of the Hamilton County Schools Procurement Department. The division is responsible for ensuring that all purchases made throughout the District meet Federal, State and Hamilton County Department of Education Board approved purchasing guidelines. It is our goal to stay current on all updates to the purchasing guidelines set forth and to expedite purchases in a timely manner while meeting this stringent criteria.
Contact Us
Purchasing Department
RM 158, 3074 Claude Ramsey Pkwy,
Chattanooga TN 37421
Phone: 423-498-7030
Fax: 423-498-6677
doe_purchasing@hcde.org
Business Hours:
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday
The school system will purchase competitively and seek maximum educational value for every dollar expended. The Board will purchase locally whenever other conditions are comparable. All purchases by school system employees, including school personnel must be pre-authorized by the appropriate officials.
The Director of Procurement is the Purchasing Agent for system-wide purchasing. The Board will not be responsible for payment for any purchases made by unauthorized individuals or in an unprescribed manner. The central office Purchasing Department maintains a comprehensive requisition and authorization system for system-wide and federal fund management.
Principals are the Purchasing Agents for the individual schools. Each school generates its own purchase orders, which contain the school name, a PO number, order details, date, amount etc. School Purchase Orders must be signed by the school administrator (Principal) before any order is placed.
Schools may also utilize co-ops, HCDE contracts, and the bid process to make purchases. A centralized vendor database is maintained by school accounting and available to all schools. Vendors may be added at the request of the schools, upon provision of a current W-9 form.
Purchases within these dollar limits shall be made at the discretion of the Department. No additional supporting documentation or competitive pricing is required other than a written quote which shall be retained for audit purposes.
Purchases within these dollar limits require three (3) written quotes when possible; see Section 3.2.2 regarding Director of Procurement discretion to increase limit per TCA § 12-3-1212;
Purchases in this category shall require sealed bids to be taken after public advertisement.
Be aware that a purchase transaction cannot be divided into multiple (smaller dollar) requisitions for the purpose of circumventing the process and documentation standards. The Purchasing Department is authorized to reject any requisition which appears to be artificially divided so as to avoid these rules.
A written quotation should contain the vendor’s current contact information including, but not limited to, mailing address for the purchase order, remittance address for payment and a quotation or proforma reference number. If applicable, a Board approved contract or Board approved purchasing cooperative’s contract should be referenced.
Quotations secured from vendors under contract with any of the co-op’s must reference the agency & the contract number.
